A substrate including a plurality of monofilaments, or a combination of monofilaments and multi-filament yarns oriented in perpendicular directions, has a tendency to curl around a central space. When all monofilaments are used, the monofilaments along one direction may have a larger diameter than the monofilaments along the other direction. The monofilaments are woven such that the larger diameter monofilaments form floats predominantly on one side of the substrate. For the monofilament-multifilament combination the monofilaments form floats predominantly on one side of the substrate. The substrate curls about an axis parallel to the monofilaments forming the floats. The side having the floats faces outwardly away from the central space. Preferably, the monofilaments are oriented in the warp direction along the substrate. The filaments may be woven in a herringbone twill weave, a double cloth herringbone twill weave or a satin weave to provide the floats.
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7. A self-curling sleeve, comprising a substrate woven from a plurality of monofilament warp members and multifilament wefi yarns, said warp members being oriented along a warp direction and said weft yarns being oriented along a weft direction, said warp members and weft yarns being woven in a satin weave wherein said warp members form floats on one side of said substrate, said substrate curling about an axis parallel to said warp direction to define and surround a central space, said one side having said floats facing outwardly away from said central space.
6. A self-curling sleeve, comprising a substrate woven from a plurality of monofilament warp members and multifilament weft yams, said warp members being oriented along a warp direction and said weft yarns being oriented along a weft direction, said warp members and weft yarns being woven in a herringbone twill weave wherein said warp members form floats on one side of said substrate, said substrate curling about an axis parallel to said warp direction to define and surround a central space, said one side having said floats facing outwardly away from said central space.
15. A self-curling sleeve, comprising a substrate woven from a plurality of first members and a plurality of second members, said first members being oriented along a first direction and said second members being oriented along a second direction substantially perpendicular to said first direction, said first and second members being woven such that said first members form floats predominantly on one side of said substrate, said substrate curling about an axis to define and surround a central space, said one side having said floats facing outwardly away from said central space.
8. A self-curling sleeve, comprising a substrate woven from a plurality of monofilament warp members and multifilament weft yams, said warp members being oriented along a warp direction and said weft yarns being oriented along a weft direction, said warp members and weft yarns being woven in a double cloth herringbone twill weave wherein said warp members form floats on one side of said substrate, said substrate curling about an axis parallel to said warp direction to define and surround a central space, said one side having said floats facing outwardly away from said central space.
1. A self-curling sleeve, comprising a substrate woven from a plurality of monofilaments and multifilament yarns, said monofilaments being oriented along a first direction and said multifilament yarns being oriented along a second direction substantially perpendicular to said first direction, said monofilaments and said multifilament yams being woven such that said monofilaments form floats predominantly on one side of said substrate, said substrate curling about an axis parallel to said monofilaments to define and surround a central space, said one side having said floats facing outwardly away from said central space.
9. A self-curling sleeve, comprising a substrate woven from a plurality of first monofilaments having a first diameter and a plurality of second monofilaments having a second diameter, said first monofilaments being oriented along a first direction and said second monofilaments being oriented along a second direction substantially perpendicular to said first direction, said first and second monofilaments being woven such that said first monofilaments form floats predominantly on one side of said substrate, said substrate curling about an axis parallel to said first monofilaments to define and surround a central space, said one side having said floats facing outwardly away from said central space.
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This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Nos. 60/589,270, filed Jul. 20, 2004, and 60/657,847, filed Mar. 2, 2005, the entire disclosures of both of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
This invention concerns sleeves for receiving and protecting elongated items, such as wiring harnesses.
Protective sleeving is used throughout the automotive, marine and aerospace industries to organize and protect elongated items, such as wiring harnesses and optical fiber cables. The sleeving surrounds the elongated items and protects them against cuts, abrasion, radiant heat, vibration induced wear and other harsh environmental threats. When positioned within protective sleeving, the wiring or cables are also held together in a neat bundle, allowing a multiplicity of different items to be handled like a sub-assembly, thus saving time and effort during integration of the items into a product.
Protective sleeving may be made by weaving filaments into a substrate and then resiliently biasing the substrate into a tubular form to define a central space for receiving the elongated items. Biasing may be effected by various means appropriate to the types of yarns used to make the substrate. Polymer filaments may be biased by heating them when the substrate is wrapped about a cylindrical mandrel, the filaments taking a permanent set conforming to the shape of the mandrel. Filaments can also be resiliently biased into a curved shape by chemical means as well as by cold working.
When substrates are biased into a tubular shape, monofilaments are typically oriented in the “hoop” or circumferential direction of the tube. Monofilaments provide excellent stiffness and strong resilient biasing that maintains the substrate in the tubular shape and tends to restore the substrate to this shape in the absence of distorting forces such as occur when the sleeve is manipulated to insert or remove an elongated item.
A significant disadvantage associated with sleeves that are biased into a tubular shape is that the biasing is effected by a separate step in the process of making the sleeve. The filaments comprising the sleeve may be biased by cold working before weaving or may be biased after weaving by heating the substrate when wrapped about a mandrel, but these actions constitute a separate step that adds to the cost and the time required to produce the sleeve. It would be advantageous to provide a sleeve formed from a substrate that is self-curling and needs no separate step to effect resilient biasing of the filaments into the tubular shape.
The invention concerns a self-curling sleeve for receiving and protecting elongated items. The sleeve comprises a substrate woven from a plurality of monofilaments or a combination of monofilaments and multi-filament yarns. When all monofilaments are used, the monofilaments along one direction may have a larger diameter than the monofilaments along the other direction. For the combination embodiment, the monofilaments are oriented along a first direction and the multifilament yarns are oriented along a second direction substantially perpendicular to the first direction. The monofilaments are woven such that the larger diameter monofilaments form floats predominantly on one side of the substrate. For the monofilament-multifilament combination the monofilaments form floats predominantly on one side of the substrate. The substrate curls about an axis parallel to the monofilaments forming the floats to define and surround a central space. The side having the floats faces outwardly away from the central space. In a certain embodiment, the longitudinal floats face outwardly, and the horizontal floats face inwardly.
Relatively more rigid filaments are preferably located in the warp direction, and relatively less rigid filaments are preferably located in the weft direction. Preferably, the monofilament yarns are oriented in the warp direction along the substrate. For the combination of monofilaments and multifilaments, the monofilaments are preferably oriented in the warp direction.
The filaments may be woven in a herringbone twill weave, a double cloth herringbone twill weave or a satin weave to provide the floats.
The present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the following drawings in which:
Preferred weave patterns for weaving the substrate 12 are those such as twills and satin weaves that form “floats” predominantly on one side of the substrate. As shown in
As shown in
The reason for the curling of this exemplary substrate 12 is thought to arise from at least two factors. First, the relatively stiff members (e.g., monofilaments 14) are oriented in the warp direction, while the more flexible and pliant members (e.g., multifilament yarns 16) are oriented in the weft direction. Accordingly, it has been found that the sleeve is self-curling when the filamentary members in the warp direction have greater beam strength than those in the weft.
With reference to the embodiment of
The second factor causing substrate curling is related to the floats 22 which are thought to generate the forces that induce the substrate to curl. As noted above, the substrate 12 curls away from the surface 28 having floats 22. The substrate 12 is unbalanced in the sense that one surface is different from the other in that on one surface floats 22 predominate. This surface imbalance causes internal stresses throughout the substrate which cumulatively manifest themselves in a curvature of the substrate about axis 26.
It is further thought that the repeating chevron pattern that is apparent in herringbone twill weaves adds to the strength of the curl, because it is observed that substrates woven in warp and weft faced herringbone twill patterns show a greater tendency to curl than substrates formed from satin weaves. Although the satin weaves have floats, they do not display the chevron pattern associated with the herringbone twill and do not manifest the curling tendency to the same degree as the herringbone twill substrates.
By far, the strongest tendency to curl is manifest in substrates woven according to the herringbone double cloth pattern shown in
Preferred materials for both the monofilaments and multifilament yarns include synthetic polymers such as polyester, polypropylene and aramids such as Kevlar and nylon. It is also feasible to use materials such as stainless steel, nitinol, elgiloy or other resilient metals having a high yield stress, preferably for the warp monofilaments.
Self-curling substrates according to the invention provide a sleeve that takes a tubular shape without the need for a separate biasing step. Such sleeves may be used to ensheath elongated items and may rely on their inherent resilient biasing to contain the items within a central space, or closing means, such as tape, may be used as a wrap to further secure the sleeve. The sleeve may also be outfitted with other closure means, such as lacing, hook and loop fasteners, buttons, zippers and the like which allow easy application and removal of the sleeve to a substrate.
Another embodiment of a self-curling sleeve 32 according to the invention is shown in
As described for the previous embodiment having both monofilaments and multifilament yarns, substrate 12 can be induced to curl about an axis 26 through the use of a twill or satin weave pattern that creates an imbalance between the surfaces of the substrate. Again, warp faced or filling faced substrates are advantageous.
The strength and degree of curl can be further augmented by appropriate choice of the monofilaments 34 and 36 comprising the substrate 12. For example, to induce or augment the curl about axis 26 when it is oriented in the warp direction 18, monofilaments 34, oriented parallel to the warp direction 18, are chosen that have a larger diameter than the monofilaments 36 oriented in the fill direction 20. The larger diameter monofilaments 34 have a greater area moment of inertia than the smaller diameter monofilaments 36 and, for filaments having the same elastic modulus, have greater bending stiffness. The less stiff monofilaments 36 bend more easily and thus allow the substrate to curl around the axis 26 due to the imbalance engendered by the floats. Monofilaments having diameters between about 0.001 inches to about 0.020 inches provide practical filaments for forming self-curling sleeves according to the invention. Practical examples have been made which exhibit strong curling force. Some examples include a substrate comprising warp monofilaments made of polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) and having a diameter of about 0.010 inches woven with dual (side by side) PPS fill monofilaments having a diameter of about 0.008 inches. In another example, warp monofilaments of polyester having a diameter of about 0.010 inches were woven with polyester fill monofilaments having a diameter of about 0.006 inches.
It is also possible to augment or control the curling through varying the material of the monofilaments used in the warp direction as compared with that of the fill direction. Varying the material allows the designer to vary the modulus of elasticity of the monofilament. By using material having a higher or lower elastic modulus in monofilaments extending in one direction or the other, the curling tendency can be augmented or reduced, and fine tuning of the curl can be achieved in conjunction with the weave pattern and the relative diameter of the monofilaments. For example, to increase the curl about the warp axis, fill monofilaments having a relatively lower modulus would be used to make the fill monofilaments more flexible than the warp monofilaments. Similarly, if it were desired to weaken the curling tendency about the warp axis, fill monofilaments having a greater modulus would be used.
Many materials are feasible for use as monofilaments in self-curling sleeves according to the invention. The materials include poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET, a type of polyester), nylon 6 and nylon 6,6, silver coated nylon, olefins, aramids such as Nomex®, which is a registered trademark of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company of Wilmington, Del., and Kevlar®, which is a registered trademark of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company of Wilmington, Del., poly(ether ether ketone) (PEEK), modacrylic, glass fibers, carbon fibers, acrylic fibers, spandex, rayon, acetate, poly(lactic acid) (PLA), poly(ethylene naphthalate) (PEN, a type of polyester), melamine (Basofil®, which is a registered trademark of BASF Aktiengesellschaft of Germany), fluorocarbons, as well as natural fibers such as cotton.
A further feature is the addition of heat to the sleeve. For certain materials the application of heat will induce further curling and also provide a thermosetting action that will hold the sleeve in its further curled configuration.
Although examples of woven substrates are provided, it is also recognized that self-curling sleeves can also be made through weft insertion of filaments during warp knitting, or also by warp knitting alone, to produce the imbalance necessary to induce the substrate to curl.
While there have been described herein the principles of the invention, it is to be understood by those skilled in the art that this description is made only by way of example and not as a limitation to the scope of the invention. Accordingly, it is intended by the appended claims, to cover all modifications of the invention which fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.
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